Problems with Google Play Music and how to fix them

Google Play Music is a streaming app and music player that features over 35 million songs, which is impressive compared to a lot of other music streaming apps out there. A paid monthly subscription not only gets you complete access to the entire portfolio, but you can also take advantage of a YouTube Red membership along with it. Of course, if you aren’t looking for a streaming service, the Play Music app is a solid music player as well, for you to enjoy any music that you have stored on your device. If you are looking for a music player and streaming service combo, the Google Play Music app is a great choice.

However, as is often the case with a lot of apps that are available, Google Play Music is not without its issues. To help you out, we’ve rounded up some of the common problems faced by Play Music users, and offer potential solutions and workarounds to address them.

Disclaimer: Not every user will come across these issues, particularly if you make sure to keep the app updated regularly.

Problem #1 – Duplicate tracks

A lot of users have come across duplicate tracks that have been saved to their Google Play Music, particularly when they have synced their music from iTunes.

Potential solutions:

Unfortunately, the Play Music app doesn’t have a way to identify and delete duplicate tracks, so the only workaround is delete the entire collection and re-upload it. Make sure that doubles aren’t already present in the library, and then re-upload it.

There is a workaround available that was created by a Reddit user, and you can find the step-by-step guide here. Keep in mind that technical know-how is definitely recommended if you are planing to follow this route.

Problem #2 – Payment issues

You may have come across error messages stating that the payment has been declined, cannot be processed, or that the card is “not eligible,” either when setting up the subscription for the first time and when renewing it.

Potential solutions:

You can try standard steps like removing and re-adding the payment method of Google Payments, make sure the card information is correct, or try another payment method. If you are card is getting declined in the Play Store but working everywhere else, you may need to contact your bank or Google to find out what the issue is.

For a lot of users, restarting the app and Play Store seems to have worked. First go to Applications (or Apps or Application Manager, depending on the device) in the Settings menu and scroll down to Google Play Store. Then tap on “Force Stop.” Then tap on “Storage” and tap on “Clear Cache” and then “Clear Data.” On some devices, you may find the latter in the “Storage and USB” section the Settings menu. Open the Google Play Store after these steps and try the payment again.

Problem #3 – Tracks missing on phone but available on web player

Some users have found that tracks that have been downloaded on the web player don’t show up on their smartphones.

Potential solutions:

There is a simple workaround to fix this. In the Settings menu, go to Apps or Application Manager, search for Google Play Music. Then tap on “Storage” and then press “Clear Cache.” On some devices, you may find this under the “Storage and USB” section in the Settings menu. Restart the device, then open the Play Music app and all your music should now be available.

Problem #4 – Songs not uploading

You may have come across some issues with uploading songs to the Music Manager from your own collection.

Potential solutions:

First, make sure that the audio you are trying to upload is of a supported format. Supported formats include MP3, AAC (.m4a), WMA, FLAC, OGG, ALAC (.m4a), and DRM protected AAC (.m4p). Some music file types like WAV are not supported.

If songs aren’t uploading, make sure that the library isn’t full. Currently, you can upload up to 50,000 songs to your library. If you have gone past that, your only option will be to delete some other tracks to make room for new ones.

Problem #5 – Issues where the only option is to wait for an official update

There are some issues that users have come across where the generic fixes don’t seem to work at all, and the only option left is to wait for an official update for the Google Play Music app.

Music will not sync to the phone – Quite a few users have found that music that has been uploaded to Google Play Music from a computer does not sync with the phone. Standard fixes like clearing the app cache, refreshing the library, and checking sync settings haven’t done the trick.

Cannot use Google Play Music and Youtube Red at the same time – Users have found that when using the same account, they cannot use Google Play Music and Youtube Red, even on different devices, at the same time. The official word is that there is a streaming limit, and that users can only stream from one service at a time. The only option here is to continue to send feedback to Google and hopefully this is something that will be addressed in the future.

Chromecast issues – While there have been multiple updates to address casting issues, some users are still facing problems when it comes to using Google Play Music with Chromecast.

So, there you have it for this roundup of some common issues faced by Google Play Music users, and potential solutions and workarounds to address them. If you have come across any other problems, do let us know in the comments section below, and we’ll try our best to find a fix for you.

Don’t let this small list of problems deter you from taking full advantage of Google Play Music. Most of these issues have simple workarounds, and given that it is a Google app, you can expect regular software updates that will continue to improve the experience.